


No Mistakes

by Northern_Lady



Series: Beyond Infinity, After Endgame, Marvel's Never Cease [6]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Ballroom Dancing, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:28:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28416132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northern_Lady/pseuds/Northern_Lady
Summary: Nebula leaves the Guardians (post endgame) and ends up on Bleecker Street needing a place to heal.
Relationships: Nebula/Stephen Strange, Stephen Strange & Wong
Series: Beyond Infinity, After Endgame, Marvel's Never Cease [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2081475
Kudos: 7





	No Mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> The Beyond Infinity Series began as a collection of Post Endgame stories that could plausibly be part of the same universe but weren't written with specifically that intention. I will be adding more stories to the series that belong in this AU of mine and will continue with some plot threads.

From the window of the corner deli Dr Stephen Strange saw someone familiar across the street. He finished his purchase of sandwiches for himself and Wong and headed out to the street to see if she was still there. She was. Her blue skin looked very alien at a place like Bleecker street. Standing there with arms crossed and looking lost was Nebula. He waved to her, just because he wasn’t as much an asshole as people believed he was and then he continued on towards home. He wasn’t entirely surprised when Nebula crossed the street to meet him but he didn’t quite understand why. They had never been friends. He had only met her twice. Once on the planet Titan and again at Stark’s funeral. As far as he knew, she had gone off to work with the Guardians. If she were here to recruit him for some mission of theirs he wasn’t interested. Okay, he might be interested if it were urgent enough to threaten the whole planet or something but probably not. 

“Doctor Strange?” She asked, coming up alongside him. 

“What brings you to earth, Nebula?” He asked her. 

“I live here now. I have been here for almost three months.” 

“Then what brings you to Bleeker Street?” 

“Nothing really. I saw a familiar face and thought I would say hello,” she shrugged. 

“Have you had lunch?” He asked her. It was the polite thing to do. 

“Not yet but I can get something later.” 

Stephen almost let it go at that but there was something about her eyes and her stance that spoke of sadness and he couldn’t quite let it go just yet. Maybe she just needed to talk about everything that had happened with someone who had been there. It had been quite a truama. Plenty of people found it therapeutic to talk through shared experiences. “The sanctum where I live is just ahead. We have plenty.” 

“Alright. Thanks.” 

Nebula followed him back to the sanctum with an air of sadness. She entered with her hands in her pockets and Wong came to retrieve his sandwich with a questioning look on his face. 

“Wong this is Nebula. She battled Thanos with us on Titan. She was also his daughter.” Stephen explained. 

“I think I remember her from the funeral. It is good to meet you again,” Wong said, as welcoming as ever. 

They brought Nebula to the dining room and cut up their sandwiches to share. Nebula ate quickly, so quickly that it was clear to Stephen that she was half starved. Wong noticed it too and quietly went to the fridge and put out fruit and yogurt on the table. 

“Where are you living, Nebula? Here in New York?” He asked her. 

She nodded but did not elaborate, her focus was on opening a yogurt container which she had apparently never done before. Stephen took it from her, pulled off the foil seal, and passed it back to her. 

“I thought you were working with the Guardians of the Galaxy,” he prompted, just trying to get some information out of her. 

“It didn’t work out,” she said, mouth full of yogurt. Nebula made a face, not liking the yogurt but she continued to eat it anyway with a grimace expression. 

“Then I’m surprised you decided to stay on earth of all places,” he said. “You must have friends here?” 

She shook her head, still eating the unliked yogurt. “Not really. I just wanted to go somewhere that the Guardians didn’t.” 

Stephen raised an eyebrow. “So you didn’t just get bored and quit? You had a falling out?” 

Nebula swallowed a gulp of yogurt and set the container aside. “No, I quit. There was no argument or mission gone wrong. I just left. I had my reasons.” 

“Okay and then you came to earth to apparently starve?” He asked. 

Nebula blushed but with her blue skin the blush looked a little purple. “I can’t find employment. No one wants to hire an alien and daughter of Thanos. I can’t resort to theft or I’ll end up in a SHIELD prison. I also can’t leave without access to a ship so…” 

“I can help you find a job,” Stephen offered. “I assume that if you don’t have a job, you don’t have a place to stay.” 

Nebula nodded. 

“Then you will stay at the Sanctum,” Wong spoke up. 

She nodded again, a little overcome with emotion. “Thank you.” 

***

Four days passed and Stephen helped Nebula to find a job as a security guard at a hospital. He had contacts there and she had experience enough to be more than qualified. The place paid bi-weekly and it would be three weeks before her first paycheck and several more weeks before she saved enough money for a place of her own. Wong and Stephen told her she was welcome to stay a while longer until she had more financial stability. 

Nebula was not a talkative or chatty housemate. She kept to her room most of the time and only came out for meals or for the TV program, Dancing With the Stars, which Wong liked to watch. It surprised Stephen that she took an interest in this show. She sat on the floor in the living room and watched it with a very serious intensity as if it were a football game or action film. 

One night, about ten days into her stay, Nebula sat on the floor in front of the center of the sofa. Usually she sat on the floor in front of the empty recliner and Stephen and Wong each took an end of the sofa. This time she sat between them on the floor. 

“You can sit up here you know?” Stephen offered. 

“I’m fine here.” She said, hardly blinking as she gazed at the dancing couple on the screen. 

“Is it a cultural thing, sitting on the floor?” He asked her. 

“No, I just don’t want to fall asleep.” 

“The show isn’t that interesting. It’s fine if you sleep.” Stephen argued. 

“I disagree,” Wong spoke up. “I am always sad if I miss an episode.” 

But that night she did fall asleep and she did so with her head against Stephen’s knee. 

“Should we wake her?” Wong asked, noticing she was asleep. 

Stephen leaned forward just slightly and placed his hand on her shoulder. Nebula awoke with a small gasp. 

“It’s okay.” Stephen told her, “You said you didn’t want to fall asleep.” 

“Thank you,” Nebula sat up a little straighter. Ten minutes later she had fallen asleep a second time with her head on his knee again. 

Wong leaned forward to wake her and Stephen shook his head. “Maybe just let her sleep. She seems pretty tired.” 

“I’m awake,” Nebula said at the sound of his voice. 

“It doesn’t look like sitting on the floor is working for you. If you want to go to bed we can update you in the morning on how the show turns out.” Stephen offered. 

Nebula stubbornly shook her head. “No, I will stay awake this time.” 

“Do you not sleep well at night?” Wong asked her with concern. 

“I do not. I have...nightmares.” Nebula admitted. 

“Many people have nightmares after being in battle,” Wong said sadly. “I am sorry.” 

“It’s not because of the battle. Not usually. It’s because of what Thanos did to me.” 

Wong nodded. Both he and Stephen were vaguely aware that Thanos had given her cybernetic upgrades as a result of failing to beat Gamora in combat. Nebula had not shared any details of those encounters. 

“Then I am still sorry,” Wong continued. 

Nebula nodded but said nothing. She managed to stay awake for the rest of the episode but fell asleep almost immediately during the commercial break at the end of it. Watching her sleep against his knee again made something clear to Stephen. If Nebula was having trouble sleeping because of nightmares, and she truly wanted to stay awake for the show, then the reason she had refused to sit between them on the sofa was because she felt comfortable with them, too comfortable. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stay awake at all unless she sat on the floor. And yet she had been sitting on the floor all week. She had moved closer, probably seeking comfort and had fallen almost immediately asleep with her head on his knee. 

“Nebula…” Stephen placed his hand on her shoulder for a second time. “Come sit up here?” 

She gasped awake again. “I should...I should probably go to bed.”

“I doubt you’ll get much sleep if you do. I’m gonna be awake anyway watching an Unsolved Mysteries marathon. Sit up here and sleep for a little while?” 

She was too exhausted to argue with him and went ahead and moved to the sofa. Wong went to bed and Nebula quickly fell asleep with her head on Stephen’s shoulder. 

Hours later Stephen became aware that Nebula was awake. She remained sitting with her head on his shoulder but her eyes were open. He was watching an episode about a feud between two sisters where one sister, Patty, had gone missing after an argument with Debbie over Debbie’s boyfriend Frank. 

“Maybe Patty should have killed Debbie rather than disappear,” Nebula said. 

“Or maybe she didn’t disappear. Maybe Debbie killed her.” Stephen suggested.

“No. Patty ran away because she loved Frank even though he was an idiot. She knew she could never compete with her sister and it hurt too much to stay.” 

Stephen glanced over at her, regarding her thoughtfully due to those words. “Is that why you left the Guardians?” 

“What? No, it’s…” she began but stopped to search for words. “It’s not that simple.” 

“What happened?” 

“What happened is that I’m the one who is an idiot. Not Peter Quill and certainly not Gamora. Just me.” 

“Did Gamora from the other timeline join the Guardians?” Stephen asked, beginning to put the truth together. 

“She did.” 

“But you had been working with the Guardians for months, long enough that you had feelings for Quill.” He guessed. 

“I was confused that’s all. Quill sat and kept me company after my nightmares a few times. I mistook kindness for affection. It wasn’t real and even if it had been, I was cast aside the moment Gamora returned.” Nebula explained, still not moving from where she sat with her head on his shoulder. 

“Nebula…” A lot of things were beginning to make sense in that moment. “Before Quill, when was the last time any man was kind to you?” 

“I suppose Stark was when I traveled with him from Titan to Earth. But he was only a friend. With the Guardians...with Peter, I was stupid. I couldn’t stay. I told them I was tired of being a Guardian and wanted to have an ordinary life, the kind of life that Thanos took from me. It wasn’t even a lie. Thanos killed my family. I spent my childhood being trained to be an assassin. Sometimes I do want a different life, one without danger or the need to fight for my survival. When I asked them to leave me on earth, they let me go. Peter doesn’t want to visit earth. There are too many memories of his mother, so I thought it was the best place to avoid him. It seems to be working.” 

Stephen moved to put his arm around her shoulders. There was so much in what she had just told him and even more in what she had left unspoken. “Thanos did more than train you to be an assassin. He violated your bodily autonomy. He took parts of you that he had no right to take and blamed it on your inability to beat your sister. And then you started to find stability working with Guardians only to have your sister steal that away from you too. That had to hurt.”

“It did,” Nebula admitted as she struggled to not start crying. “But it’s not Gamora’s fault. It’s mine. I was just stupid.” 

“Come here?” Stephen offered her a hug. She hesitated only a moment before accepting it, settling with her head against his chest and both his arms around her. “It wasn’t your fault.” 

“But I was the one who-“ 

“It’s not your fault.” He cut off her protest. “None of it.” 

At that Nebula started to cry, to really cry in a way which he imagined she didn’t allow herself to do very often. She wept against him for a long while until she had exhausted herself and had no tears left. Then she fell asleep. 

Stephen awoke in the morning when Wong entered the living room to clean up all the popcorn bowls from the previous night. There was a change in Nebula’s breathing as she too woke up but she made no attempt to leave the hug. She pretended to be asleep until Wong left them alone. 

“Thanks for that, for last night,” she said as she sat up and pulled away from him. “Just so there’s no confusion, that was just a kindness?” 

Stephen immediately understood she was referring to her statement that she had mistook Quill’s kindness for affection. “It was whatever you wanted it to be,” he told her honestly. He wouldn’t have let her get so close if he didn’t have feelings for her but also wasn’t too late for them to remain only friends. 

“Oh. I should...I should get ready for work,” Nebula fled the living room. 

***

For the next three evenings Nebula worked overtime shifts at the hospital. Stephen considered the possibility that she had accepted these shifts simply to avoid him but he didn’t let the idea worry him too much. Nebula had lived a difficult life. She would learn to have healthy relationships on her own terms. Pushing her to work less or to stop avoiding him wasn’t the answer to her problems. 

On the fourth night of her absence Stephen’s cell phone rang and he recognized the number of his hospital colleague, the man who had hired Nebula. “Hi Randy,” he picked up the phone. 

“Strange, there’s something wrong with that woman you convinced me to hire. You need to get down here,” Randy said, sounding disturbed. 

“What do you mean, there’s something wrong?” 

“Just get the hell down here now!” 

Stephen made a portal and stepped through just outside the hospital security desk. Randy knew by now that people with powers existed and that Strange had some abilities of his own. He didn’t question it. Randy just waved him towards the door to the office used by security guards. As Stephen got closer he noticed Randy had several fresh bruises and had one arm in a sling. 

“She’s back here.” 

Stephen followed Randy into the large room. Surveillance screens covered one wall. A few desks had half finished sodas and take-out boxes. Nebula sat on the floor curled up in one corner. She was tightly hugging her knees and every few seconds her entire body would twitch as if she were having some sort of seizure. 

A holographic image was projected from her eye. A few seconds of memory played and seemed to be repeating over and over again on a loop. The projection showed Thanos and Gamora from Nebula’s perspective. Thanos’ voice came through from somewhere in her cybernetics. “Gamora, you have won as you deserve. You may go.” Gamora smiled with a bit of arrogance and walked away. Thanos bent down to where Nebula could see her better. “You daughter, are weak, weak and pathetic. I can not allow your weakness to continue. I will make you better.” Thanos reached for Nebula’s left arm which was small in his massive hand. He put one foot on her body to hold her down and with one effortless pull, tore the arm from her body as easily as one might tear a wing from a fly. The view was obscured by blood spatters and the only sound was Nebula’s screams. The projection cut out and then began again with Thanos telling Gamora she had won. Nebula twitched again. 

“She’s been like this for almost half an hour,” Randy said. “Some tall guy at the cafeteria grabbed her by the arm and she flipped, nearly killed him. I nearly got killed myself trying to break it up and she took off, came back here. When I got here, I found her like this. Any idiot can see that it’s PTSD. Getting grabbed by the arm was too much if she’s got memories like that one. You should take her home. She’s got some stuff to work through before she comes back to work.” 

Stephen nodded and went to Nebula, kneeling down to her level. “Nebula?” he tried her name. She didn’t respond. He spoke to her a second time and then a third but got no response. “Nebula, I’m gonna pick you up and take you home, okay?” 

Carefully, as to not startle her, Stephen picked her up. He made a new portal and brought her back to the Sanctum. He carried her to the living room and put her on the sofa. From a medical perspective, he wasn’t sure how to treat her at this point. She wasn’t human and he knew almost nothing about Luphomoid physiology. He knew even less about her cybernetics. So he did the only thing he could think of. He found some re-runs of Dancing With the Stars, and he sat with her and waited for her to return to reality. 

It took an additional twenty minutes before Nebula became aware of where she was. The projection from her eye ended and she gave a small gasp of surprise. 

“You’re back?” Stephen asked her with concern. 

“What happened? Did I kill that man at the hospital?” 

“No. No one is dead. Randy called me to come and get you. You were having...a panic attack, I guess.” 

“Then I guess you saw my memory,” she said sadly. 

“I did,” Stephen confirmed. “It was pretty disturbing. I imagine it’s a lot worse to have experienced it and others like it.” 

“Thank you for coming to get me even though I have been avoiding you.” 

He nodded. “I suspected you were. Look, if you want to just be housemates, I can be okay with that. If not, well I’m good with that too. You don’t have to avoid me.” 

Nebula nodded, thinking over his words but not giving a reply. 

“Randy said you needed to take a break from work and take some time to recover,” Stephen continued. “If you’re not getting paid then you can’t save up for your own place and maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe you should just stay here. Take a while longer and recover and have a boring ordinary life before you decide what you want to do with your future.” 

“You want me to stay?” 

“Yeah, and I know Wong does too,” Stephen told her. 

“I would like that.” 

***

Days later Nebula joined Stephen and Wong for TV one evening and took the seat on the sofa between them. She had been sitting on the floor for the past few nights but for some reason didn’t bother with that on this night. 

“Do you want us to wake you if you fall asleep?” Wong asked her just after she sat down. 

“No. I think this time I want sleep more than I want to see the pretty dresses,” she mumbled, clearly exhausted. 

“That’s why you like this show?” Stephen asked, a little surprised to hear it. 

“I can never wear something like that or dance. I can at least watch others who can,” she said. 

“You don’t know how to dance?” Wong asked. “I would think that with cybernetics that would be something you could learn very quickly.” 

“I could, I mean technically I do know how to dance but I’ve never...I’m not going to any dances.” 

“I don’t see why not,” Stephen said. 

“Who would even…?” Nebula began then focused on the TV screen. “Never mind.” 

Wong regarded her with concern and then glared at Stephen as if willing him to say something. 

“Nebula,” Stephen began, knowing what Wong was trying to do and being perfectly willing to do it. “There’s no reason you can’t go to a dance. If you wanted we could go next week. This is New York city. There are plenty of places to dress up and go dancing.” 

Nebula sat up and tried to determine if he were serious or not. “Do you really mean that?” 

“Definitely.” 

“Then I would like to go.” 

***

Stephen waited for ten minutes past the time they planned to leave and Nebula still had not come downstairs to go to the dance. Wong had gone up to check on her and he came back down the stairs looking miffed. 

“She says she is almost ready but can’t tell me how much longer it will take,” Wong said. 

“I’ll go up there,” Stephen adjusted his tie and headed up the stairs. 

Nebula’s door was open just a crack. She was wearing a ballgown of purple with plenty of ruffles. She was also holding a dagger and lifting every layer of her skirt as if she were searching for something. Stephen knocked lightly on her door. 

“Come in!” 

He pushed open the door. “Are you ready?”

“Almost, but I can’t find where to store the weapons in this garment.” 

“Usually people don’t carry weapons if they are wearing ball gowns,” he told her, hiding his bemusement as best he could. 

She glanced up at him somewhat horrified. “I can’t go out unarmed.” 

“I have my sling ring and I’ll be there the whole time. It will be fine,” he tried to assure her. 

But Nebula was not one to depend on someone else for protection. She had resumed searching the folds of her dress. 

“I have something downstairs. It might be what you need. Does that dagger have a sheath?” 

Nebula grabbed a sheath off of the dresser and followed him down the stairs. There was a weapons case on the wall in one of the hallways and he stopped to open the glass panel. 

“This belonged to a sorceress,” he said, passing her a thigh holster. “The story goes that she used it to carry her weapons long before she learned the mystic arts. After she died she left her inheritance to the Sanctum.” 

Nebula put her dagger into place and then looked down at the many layers of fabric on her dress. Holding up all those layers and strapping on a thigh holster was going to be problematic. 

“I can help if you’re okay with that,” he offered. 

She began to gather up the fabric in her hands and Stephen knelt down to wrap the holster around her leg. He buckled the straps into place, careful not to touch more skin (which was covered in nylon hosiery) more than necessary. Nebula reacted to his touch with a small intake of breath. He got to his feet and she dropped her skirts to the floor. 

“Feel better?” He asked. 

“Much.” 

He took her arm to bring her to the car. “You look great, by the way.” 

Nebula turned out to be an expert dancer. She had already told him that she was able to learn and memorize many things just by watching them.Dancing had been one of those things. Stephen had some experience with formal dancing during his time as a surgeon. He never particularly enjoyed it but had done it because it was expected. Nebula did enjoy it. She wasn’t one to smile often but she smiled several times over the course of the evening. 

By the time the evening was over he was almost sure that Nebula had just had the most fun she’d ever really had. He was glad to have been part of that. Nebula removed her shoes when they came through the front door. The house smelled like lasagna. They went to the dining room and found that the table was set with candles lit and there was a note from Wong. 

“Looks like Wong made us dinner,” Stephen said. “You hungry?” 

They ate a quiet meal and Wong returned to put away their dishes just as they finished up. He seemed to be in a rush and spilled something liquid in the kitchen in his hurried state. 

“We can get this Wong,” Steven offered. “Isn’t tonight the night your sister calls?” 

“It is. Are you sure?” 

“We can do it,” Nebula agreed. 

They had nearly finished loading the dishwasher when Nebula, barefooted, slipped in the water Wong had spilled. Stephen caught her without even thinking about it. He didn’t let go right away. They had been this close multiple times all evening but this time, with her shoes off, the dishwasher open, water all over the floor, this time something was different. 

He kissed her before he really thought it through and yet he had been thinking about it all evening. Nebula kissed him in return. She eventually stepped back and he let her go, missing her up close already. She bit her lip as she caught her breath. 

“Just so there’s no mistake, that wasn’t kindness, that was affection,” he told her, a bit of emotion in his tone. 

“There’s no mistake,” she repeated and she moved closer to kiss him again.


End file.
